Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) has managed to change the paradigms on prostate cancer detection and risk classification. The most clear-cut indication of mpMRI in guidelines is the patients with a history of negative biopsy/increasing prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and presence of additional findings supporting its use in non biopsied patients and active surveillance. mpMRI complements standard clinical exam, PSA measurements, and systematic biopsy, and will miss some tumors that lack enough size or change in tissue density. Use of mpMRI is likely to increase, and further developments in the technique will be important for safe adoption of focal therapy concepts. Here we present a brief summary about mpMRI and its use in detection, risk classification and follow-up of prostate cancer.


For more than a century, amusement parks from Brooklyn's Coney Island to Disneyland in Anaheim and today's "chain parks" like Six Flags have been among the most popular destinations for countiess Americans in search of fun, thrills and forgetting their troubles. This marvelous photographic retrospective distills more than 100 years of the sights, sounds, smells and vertigo-inducing thrills associated with the American amusement park. Nostalgic archival photography from private collections, period print advertisements and exclusive modern color photographs illustrate the stories behind thrill rides, arcades, architecture, park food, pavillion entertainment, fun houses, tunnels of love and much more. Special focus is given to the roller coaster, while sidebars highlight specific parks and rides whose influence on the development of amusement parks in general is undeniable.


This paper presents a new contrastive analysis of the expression of referential pronominal subjects in European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP), based on two recent samples, recorded in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro, in 2009-2010, according to the same social stratification. The results reinforce EP's status of a "consistent" Null Subject Language (NSL) (Roberts and Holmberg, 2010) and allow to follow the change in course in BP by offering answers to the empirical problems posed by Weinreich, Labov and Herzog (1968), particularly those related to the constraints and to the embedding of the change. Inherently human referents have been the most remarkable feature in the process, since 2nd person overt subjects lead the change and reveal an almost complete stage. The slower course of the change with 3rd person referents confirms the role of animacy in the process: [+human/+animate] subjects are preferably overt, whereas [-animate] subjects show more resistance in spite of a significant rise in the rate of overt pronouns when compared to a sample of the same speech community recorded in 1992. A multivariate analysis of 3rd person in both varieties points out the same structural relevant factors constraining overt/null subjects: the structural pattern (function of the antecedent), the cluster of semantic features of the referent (animacy and specificity) and the structure of the Complementizer Phrase (CP). The comparison allows to claim that the multivariate analysis is a powerful instrument to understand the internal factors controlling [+/prodrop] systems. Even though rates of overt subjects are significantly higher in BP, already outnumbering null subjects in every structural environment (contrary to what is found for EP), Relative Weights obtained reveal the same effects in both varieties. Moreover, the analysis reveals some important evidence of the embedding of the change, in the present case, supporting the hypothesis of the resetting of the Parameter value by BP – from a NSL to a non-NSL. This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol25/iss2/3


Using data generated from semi-structured interviews, the present study explored the experiences of 23 Black collegians and recent baccalaureate recipients who participated in a structured undergraduate research program, as part of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment program. Specifically, this study investigated how Black collegians described their undergraduate research environments compared to traditional STEM classroom environments. While their research environments were engaging and confirmatory of their decisions to pursue a STEM degree, the STEM classroom environments exposed students to racial microaggressions and a need to prove their intellectual worth. Findings suggest that undergraduate research environments may provide necessary counterspaces for science identity amidst racist and hegemonic academic environments.


Despite the large quantity of research on the sensitivity of soil organic matter (SOM) degradation to temperature change, there is still no consensus as to whether soil efflux Of C02 Will increase with elevated temperatures.
Understanding the mechanisms that controIC02efflux from the soil is therefore critical for predicting the response of ecosystems to climate change, particularly in polar regions where warming is occurring at rates 2-3 times greater than in temperate regions. This thesis considered two methodologies for evaluating whether soil efflux0f C02 is driven by recent inputs from plants and, secondly,
the degree of temperature sensitivity. Firstly, Part I (Chapter 2) considered basal C02 and nutrient limitations in these soils. Secondly, Part 11 (Chapters 3-6) utilized 14C -labelled glucose and amino acids to assesst he mineralization of low molecular weight (MW) C in soils from the UK and Arctic and the temperature sensitivity of mineralization.
UK and Svalbard soils had similar respiration rates per gram of 0 horizon and metabolism of low MW C with an exponential decay coefficient ki averaging < 1.5 h in the laboratory. However, cycling of C through the microbial biomass was significantly slower in Svalbard soils than in UK grassland soils, though when Svalbard soils were incubated at 20 OC, turnover was similar to UK field
rates. Respiration measurements undertaken on an area basis were also significantly different, with the UK having much greater respiration rates, highlighting the importance of the sampling methodology when considering results. Both soils were substrate limited, indicating that respiration rates were dominated by recent contributions of labile C from plants.
Temperature changes did cause an increased respiratory loss of SOM, but not to the magnitude expected with the Qjo value being < 2. Temperature dependence of SOM degradation was shown to be C pool dependent; with mineralization of labile substrate-C insensitive to temperature, but microbial
biomass-C turnover and mineralization of higher MW SOM fractions increased with elevated temperatures. Partitioning of 14C changed with elevated
temperatures, with more C utilized for respiration rather than growth, indicating a possible decreasein efficiency of growth at higher temperatures.
Further research is needed in the temperature-dependence of SOM degradation, particularly turnover of high MW SOM, in the laboratory and field.


Mobile satellite systems can be characterized as a major solution since they offer mobile communication services to users in different environments and for several significant purposes. In numerous conditions, satellite systems have exclusive competences in terms of broad coverage, robustness, broadcast, and multicast capabilities. However, the implementation of Land Mobile Satellite (LMS) systems still faces some limitations regarding connectivity and stability, leading to unreliable communication. Therefore, the target of this paper is to offer a comprehensive overview of land mobile satellite systems and services from various perspectives. This includes the classification of LMS systems, the operating frequency bands, and the representative Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) systems. The research challenges and future research are further described. Such information will contribute to the understanding of satellite systems and the currently faced issues that must be addressed.


The cuticle layer is essential for maintaining organ integrity and protecting plants against biotic and abiotic stresses present in their natural environment. Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with a defective cuticle layer may help to precisely determine which genes are actually taking part in the formation of the cuticle. The functions of some cuticular genes seem to be conserved between monocots and dicots as we could complement the Arabidopsis fiddlehead (fdh) mutant with the barley allele of the FDH gene. In addition to a defective cuticle, fdh, bodyguard (bdg), lacerata (lcr) and the novel htm Arabidopsis mutant show ectopic organ fusions and other developmental phenotypes. As the isolation of pure cutin from cuticular mutants is not doable, we analysed the cell wall bound lipid composition from leaves of the fdh and lcr mutants. As a consequence of fdh and lcr mutations, a significant increase in cutin monomer amount takes place. Even though FDH and LCR enzymes have very different functions, similar alterations in cell wall bound lipid composition were observed in their mutants. As it was observed in bdg earlier, we could also show that both fdh and lcr accumulated more wax. Even though each of these three mutants has its own particularities that, mutations in three genes coding for so different enzymes trigger similar phenotypical alterations was quite unexpected. This brought us to study the compensatory response to cuticular damage and to compare the transcriptome of mutants using microarrays. This analysis supports the idea that plants are able to compensate for cuticle defects specifically altering gene expression. We characterised the expression pattern of the recently cloned HTM gene using promoter and protein fusion reporter constructs. We found that the HTM gene is epidermis specific, and is particularly strongly expressed in petals and sepals. This goes well in hand with the phenotype of the htm mutant which is characterised by postgenital organ fusion within floral buds. The bound lipid analysis revealed that whereas htm deposits similar quantity of monomers on its outer cell wall, there is a shift in monomer proportions. The wax composition of this mutant was not found different from that of the wild type but a global decrease of 20% was observed. Thus it is more likely that HTM is indirectly involved in wax and cutin biosynthesis. We also characterised insertion lines in genes putatively involved in cutin biosynthesis, respectively encoding an aldehyde dehydrogenase, an epoxide hydrolase-like enzyme, and a member of the α/β hydrolase-fold super family.


The refraction seismic method has been used to investigate the form of the surface of the hard rocks underlying the sediments on the continental shelf to the west of the English Channel. This surface is found to slope steadily downwards on receding from the land, and to reach a depth of over 8000 ft. at the 100 fm. line. The velocity of elastic waves in the sediments is about 6000 ft./sec. near the surface and up to 9700 ft./sec. lower down, compared to 16,000—22,000 ft./sec. in the basement. The bearing of these results on the structure and history of the shelf is discussed.


Abstract. Security and privacy in digital communications is the need of the hour. SSL/TLS has become widely adopted to provide the same. Multiple application layer protocols can be layered on top of it. However protection is this form results in all the data being encrypted causing problems for an intrusion detection system which relies on a sniffer that analyses packets on a network. We thus hypothesise that a host based intrusion detection system that analyses packets after decryption would be able to detect attacks against security protocols. To this effect we conduct two experiments where we attack a web server and a mail server, collect data, analyse it and conclude with methods to detect such attacks. These methods are in the form of peudocode.


Fluid-acoustic interactions in fluid-dynamic oscillations of a flow over a two-dimensional cavity were investigated by directly solving the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. It was assumed that the upstream boundary layer is turbulent and the depth-to-length ratio of the cavity is 0.5. To clarify the effects of the freestream Mach number on the fluid-dynamic oscillations, the computations were performed for two freestream Mach numbers, i.e., 0.15 and 0.3. The oscillations occur with the Mach number of 0.3, while they do not occur with the Mach number of 0.15. For the Mach number of 0.3, phase-averaged flow fields show that large-scale vortices form in the shear layer. When the large-scale vortex collides with the downstream wall, the low-pressure region spreads along the downstream wall. As a result, a local pressure gradient induces a local downstream velocity, causing the upstream fluid to expand and an expansion wave to propagate to the outside of the cavity. To clarify the mechanism for the formation of the large-scale vortices, backward-facing step flows with an artificial acoustic source were also computed. These computations clarify the reason that oscillations do not occur in the cavity flow with Mach number of 0.15.


The phenol hydroxylase enzyme from Pseudomonas sp. strain CF600 is involved in the conversion of phenol to catechol, which subsequent enzymes break down to precursors for the Krebs cycle. The protein is a multi-component enzyme that is composed of reductase (DmpP), oxygenase (DmpLNO dimer), activator (DmpM) and assembly (DmpK) subunits. The active site, found in DmpN of the oxygenase component, has a binuclear iron centre required for activity. In DmpN, previous experiments have shown that there is also a Zn2+ ion coordinated by four cysteine residues, but the role that it plays in the enzyme has yet to be elucidated.
 Site-directed mutagenesis was previously performed on two of the cysteine ligands in DmpN (C433A and C437A) that form a complex with Zn2+, but attempts to express and purify the variant proteins were unsuccessful. In this thesis, different techniques were used to attempt removal of Zn2+ from its binding site in the oxygenase. These techniques included dialysis and column buffer exchange in the presence of a combination of chelating agents, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or tetrakis-(2-pyridylmethyl) ethylenediamine (TPEN), reducing agents dithiothreitol (DTT) or tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) and a denaturant, urea. Protein samples were analysed with circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy for secondary and tertiary structure changes, respectively. In addition, inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine the metal content of the treated proteins. The most successful approach was the combination of TPEN, DTT and urea followed by dialysis against metal-free buffer, where Zn2+ was reduced from 2.6 atoms per molecule in pre-dialysis to 0.1 atoms per molecule after dialysis. This treatment, however, also resulted in the removal of Fe2+ from the enzyme. The method developed for the preparation of the apo-enzyme will enable further experiments to investigate the roles of metal ions in this enzyme following their controlled re-insertion.


Magazine covers are multimodal texts designed to draw the attention of potential readers. Health and fitness magazines, in particular, make up a large portion of the publishing industry, and previous research has pointed to their influence on readers' perceptions of health and fitness. In order to interpret the multimodality of magazine covers, a different approach other than the purely linguistic one needs to be employed. Following the theoretical frameworks of Systemic Functional Linguistics and Social Semiotics, this study set out to investigate the verbal and visual construction of health on eight covers of Men's Health and Women's Health. The findings indicate that there are significant differences in how health is constructed on the men's and women's edition of the magazines. These differences mainly concern the way in which health is achieved, and the relationship between the viewers and the magazine. This not only indicates that different strategies were used to attract viewers, but also reveals something about the relationship the viewer is supposed to have with their bodies as well as their perceptions of health.


It was estimated the conversion of feed into milk, content of urea, fat, protein, somatic cells in the milk of cows of different breeds in different seasons and months of the year. It was established that the peculiarities of the organization of feeding process significantly influence the productive indicators. Thus, in the conditions of a modern milk complex for 1500 cows with an unattached system of keeping in boxes and feeding with the use of mixed rations, the average value of feed conversion (the measures of digestibility of the feed when it "converted" into dairy products) is 1.38 kg of milk per kilogram of dry matter of feed, and the ratio of fat to protein is 1.10, which is lower than the existing standards. It was established that changes in the conditions by months of the year significantly influenced practically all analyzed qualitative characteristics of milk. And this fact entails the corresponding monthly fluctuations of indicators of safety of products, emissions of by-products of metabolism, and, consequently, fluctuations of dairy cattle breeding impact on the environment and ecology. It was found that milk yield positively and significantly (P≥0.999) correlated with the consumption of feed dry matter (r = 0.454) and feed conversion rate (r = 0.547). At the same time, the milk yield is negatively related to the fat content (r = –0.211) and the protein content (r = –0.192) in milk. The level of urea in milk positively correlates with the content of protein in milk (r = 0.130; P≥0.99). The influence of the factor "breed" on the following important economic-useful traits such as daily milk yield (η2 = 0.131) and feed conversion rate (η2 = 0.130) are proved.


: Recognition of the right to water in Indian courts has had little impact on the ground. This paper explores the seeming disjuncture between what happens in the court and the everyday reality of living with a less-than-perfect claim on city water services in India's urban slums. The paper seeks to understand and contextualise a court ruling which looks like it declares a right to water for people in urban slums, but in effect gives them little beyond what they already had. The paper also looks at the 'everyday reality' of municipal administration and the provision of drinking water in slums through in-house connections and community taps. In both case studies, the author looks to understand how the practice relates to frameworks of law and policy that shape the rationality and scope of action of the actors concerned, both judges and municipal officials. She found that the issue of land was the main stumbling block in both places, but it was conceptualized a little differently in each situation. These case studies underscore the critical importance of making the local interface between poor people and the state more empowering in order for rights to become local and meaningful.


The success of subunit vaccines has been hampered by the problems of weak or short-term immunity and the lack of availability of nontoxic, potent adjuvants. It would be desirable to develop safe and efficient adjuvants with the aim of improving the cellular immune response against the target antigen. In this study, the targeting and sustained release of simple nanoliposomes containing Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) as an efficacious immune adjuvant to improve immune responses were explored. LBP liposome (LBPL) with high entrapment efficiency (86%) were obtained using a reverse-phase evaporation method and then used to encapsulate the model antigen, ovalbumin (OVA). We demonstrated that the as-synthesized liposome loaded with OVA and LBP (LBPL-OVA) was stable for 45 days and determined the encapsulation stability of OVA at 4°C and 37°C and the release profile of OVA from LBPL-OVA was investigated in pH 7.4 and pH 5.0. Further in vivo investigation showed that the antigen-specific humoral response was correlated with antigen delivery to the draining lymph nodes. The LBPL-OVA were also associated with high levels of uptake by key dendritic cells in the draining lymph nodes and they efficiently stimulated CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation in vivo, further promoting antibody production. These features together elicited a significant humoral and celluar immune response, which was superior to that produced by free antigen alone.


With rapid proliferation of affordable video capturing devices and state-of-the-art video editing software tools, it is now easier than ever to manipulate video contents. In this paper a passive method for copy/move video forgery detection in MPEG videos is proposed. The method first divides each video frame into suspicious and apparently innocent parts. Subsequently, an optical flow coefficient is computed from each part. Forgeries are located when an unusual trend in the optical flow coefficient of the suspicious object is detected. Experiments on a set of forged and original sequences validate the justifications made by the proposed method.


Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) devices were fabricated using a novel donor-(π bridge)-acceptor (D-π-A) porphyrin sensitizer, VC-70, in which an indoline is linked directly to the porphyrin core and functions as the donor group. The best efficiencies of VC-70 and reference YD2-o-C8 devices were found to be 7.31 and 7.60%, respectively, and AMG 1.5 illumination and device properties were fully characterized using transient absorption, charge extraction, and transient photovoltage techniques. A notable effect on TiO2 conduction band energetics and electron lifetime was observed following light soaking of VC-70 devices under AMG 1.5 illumination. Upon cosensitization of VC-70 with the organic dye D205 an improved efficiency of 8.10% was obtained.


The purpose of this paper is to develop a motion based segmentation for digital image sequences that is based on the continuous wavelet transform. The continuous wavelet transform allows estimating the motion parameters on all the moving discontinuities, edges and boundaries in the image sequence. This technique provides all the information of motion parameter estimates and edge locations at once without going back and forth refining the segmentation and the motion parameter estimation. Also, this is achieved without involving any point/block corresponding techniques in our algorithm. The edges and the motion parameter estimates are calculated locally on small windows or pixels in the image planes by maximizing the square of the modulus of the wavelet transform. A clustering procedure allows separating all the detected edges into clusters of homogeneous motion. Building a ridge skeleton on the reconstructed edges in each cluster provides the ultimate motion-based segments or partition. The algorithm was simulated using real traffic image sequences acquired by a mobile camera and proved to be accurate and robust.


Aluminum is unique among metals in the way it is obtained from its ore. The first step is to produce alumina, a white powder that bears no resemblance to the bauxite from which it is derived or to the metallic aluminum to which it is reduced by electrolytic action in a second step. Each step requires a complete plant facility, and the plants may be adjacent Dr separated by as much as the width of the North American continent. Field investigations sf every alumina plant and reduction works in the United States were undertaken to deternine the industry's water use. Detailed studies were made of process and plant layout so :hat a water balance could be made for each plant to determine not only the gross water .ntake but also an approximation of the consumptive use of water. Water requirements of alumina plants range from 0.28 to 1.10 gallons per pound of alumila; the average for the industry is 0.66 gallon. Water requirements of reduction works vary :onsiderably more, ranging from 1.24 to 36.33 gallons per pound of aluminum, and average L4.62 gallons. All alumina plants in the United States derive alumina from bauxite by the Bayer process >r by the Combination process, a modification of the Bayer process. Although the chemical >rocess for obtaining alumina from bauxite is essentially the same at all plants, different >rocedures are employed to cool the sodium aluminate solution before il enters the precipi<.ating tanks and to concentrate it by evaporation of some of the water in the solution. Vhere this evaporation takes place in a cooling tower, water in the solution is lost to the atmosphere as water vapor and so is used consumptively. In other plants, the quantity of solution in the system is controlled by evaporation in a multiple-effect evaporator where >ractically all vapor distilled out of the solution is condensed to water that may be reised. The latter method is used in all recently constructed alumina plants, and some older )lants are replacing cooling towers with multiple-effect evaporators. All reduction works in the United States use the Hall process, but the variation in water equirements is even greater than the variation at alumina plants, and, further, the total laily water requirement for all reduction works is more than 9 times the total daily requirenent of all alumina plants. Many reduction works use gas scrubbers, but some do not. As zas scrubbing is one of the principal water uses in reduction works, the manner in which wash water is used, cooled, and reused accounts in large measure for the variation in waer requirements. Although the supply of water for all plants but one was reported by the management to be ample for all plant needs, the economic factor of the cost of water differs considerably among plants. It is this factor that accounts in large measure for the widely divergent slant practices. Plant capacity alone has so little effect on plant water requirements that jther conditions such as plant operation based on the cost of water, plant location, and he need for conservation of water mask any economy inherent in plant size.


We consider the dynamics of rapid propagation of information in complex social networks focusing on mobile phone networks. We introduce two models for an information propagation process. The first model describes the temporal behavior of people which leads to the emergence of information propagation events and is based on the existence of two types of subscribers: regular subscribers and subscribers that tend to spread information. The second model describes the topology of paths in which the information propagates from one subscriber to another. We further introduce an efficient algorithm for identification of information propagation events. We then apply our algorithm to a large-scale mobile phone network and demonstrate the correspondence between theoretical expectations and the actual results.


Although now parallel computing is very common, current parallel programming methods tend to be domain-specific (specializing in certain program patterns such as nested loops) and/or manual (programmers need to specify independent tasks). This situation poses a serious difficulty in developing efficient parallel programs. We often need to manually transform codes written in usual programming patterns to ones in a parallelizable form. We hope to have a solid foundation to streamline this transformation. This talk first reviews necessity of a method of systematically deriving parallelizable codes and then introduces an ongoing work on extending lambda calculus for the purpose. The distinguished feature of the new calculus is a special construct that enable evaluation with incomplete information, which is useful to express important parallel computation patterns such as reductions (aggregations). We then investigate derivations of parallelizable codes as transformations on the calculus.


The integrity of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) isolated from solid tissues is critical for analyses such as long-range PCR, but is typically assessed under conditions that fail to provide information on the individual mtDNA strands. Using denaturing gel electrophoresis, we show that commonly-used isolation procedures generate mtDNA containing several single-strand breaks per strand. Through systematic comparison of DNA isolation methods, we identify a procedure yielding the highest integrity of mtDNA that we demonstrate displays improved performance in downstream assays. Our results highlight the importance of isolation method choice, and serve as a resource to researchers requiring high-quality mtDNA from solid tissues.


In introductory programming teaching, block-based editors have become very popular because they offer a number of strong advantages for beginning programmers: They avoid many syntax errors, can display all available instructions for visual selection and encourage experimentation with little requirement for recall. Among proficient programmers, however, text-based systems are strongly preferred due to several usability and productivity advantages for expert users. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive introduction to a novel editing paradigm, frame-based editing – including design, implementation, experimentation and analysis. We describe how the design of this paradigm combines many advantages of block-based and text-based systems, then we present and discuss an implementation of such a system for a new Java-like language called Stride, including the results of several evaluation studies. The resulting editing system has clear advantages for both novices and expert programmers: It improves program representation and error avoidance for beginners and can speed up program manipulation for experts. Stride can also serve as an ideal stepping stone from block-based to text-based languages in an educational context.


Objectives To determine the association between the range and nature of non-motor symptoms (NMS) in people with Parkinson's (PwP) and validated Parkinson's KinetigraphTM (PKG) outcome measures. Design Cross-sectional retrospective study of participants enrolled in the Non-motor Longitudinal International Study (NILS, UKCRN No: 10084) at King's College Hospital, London. Subjects 108 PwP with a PKG recording within 4 months of a NILS assessment were included in the analysis. Methods PKG is a validated accelerometery-based measure for motor function in PwP, reporting scores for global bradykinesia (BKS) and dyskinesia (DKS). NMS were assessed by the NMS scale (NMSS). Results Using multiple linear regression, BKS was predicted by NMSS domains 6 (gastrointestinal tract; p=0.006) and 8 (sexual function; p=0.003). DKS was predicted by domains 3 (mood/cognition; p=0.016), domain 4 (perceptual problems; p=0.025), domain 6 (gastrointestinal tract; p=0.029) and domain 9 (miscellaneous, p=0.003). In these domains, anxiety, delusions, dysphagia, hyposmia, weight change and hyperhidrosis significantly predicted DKS. In addition, carbidopa dose predicted NMSS total scores (p=0.037), but not total LEDD (p=0.91). Conclusions In PwP, measures of BK and DK were mainly associated with gastrointestinal problems, underpinning the importance of gastric absorption of oral medications and constipation and the related motor effects in PwP. Interestingly, carbidopa appears to have a role in non-motor symptoms in PwP, which deserves further investigation.


There are numerous companies who do not realize the importance of its Human Resource Department and thus fail to maximize its functions in the daily operations. This is caused by the lack of attention companies pay to their HRD, assuming that it does not contribute any significant values to companies in achieving their objectives. In completing this report, the writer uses both primary and secondary data. The writer finds that human resource department is not functioning efficiently. The HRD in a company is not to be ignored otherwise it may lead to the company?s inability to maximize its competitiveness. To overcome this issue, a company needs to implement Total Quality Human Resource Management and Strategic Human Resource Management.


The extent to which the impact of computer skills depends on how computers are used is investigated using British data from an establishment survey, cohort studies and the European E-Living survey. We examine the importance of activity and frequency of use in these various data sources. We find that the impact on earnings depends on which cohort of workers is examined and that there are differences over time. The regression results show that the use of computers for internet access and for email is positively significant across all of our datasets, although there are differences in the size of the effects between men and women.


Backround: Dirofilaria species are important zoonotic filarioid nematodes transmitted by mosquitoes causing a heartworm disease in canines worldwide. Map of the distribution pattern of dirofilariois in Nepalese context is lacking. Methodology: A study was done to access the occurrence of dirofilarioids among stray dogs population in Siddharthanagar, sub-metropolitan city of Lumbini, Nepal. A total of 150 blood specimens were examined using direct microscopy, buffy coat centrifugation and modified Knott's method. Haematobiochemical parameters including packed cell volume (PCV), alanine aminotransferase (SGPT), aspartate aminotransferase (SGOT), alkaline phosphate (ALP), creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urea and total protein were evaluated. Furhter, the clinical performance, comprising the body temperature and respiratory rate, were also assessed. Results: The dirofilariod is recognized as Dirofilaria immitis . Overall prevalence of dirofilariosis was reported to be 19.33% (29/150). Meanwhile, microfilariae were noticed to be 16.0, 16.0 and 19.33 % using the direct blood smear microscopy, buffy coat and modified Knott technique, respectively. The infection rate was significantly ( P <0.05) higher in aged dogs with high respiratory rates. The response of sex was non-significant. Among haematobiochemical parameters, only SGPT and SGOT were significantly ( P <0.05) elevated. The body temperature was not altered.Conclusion: Coinciding with the existence of stray dog communities and the recent zoonotic appearance of such filarioids, further investigations including molecular approaches, are urgently needed to accurately differentiate both dirofilarioids and other filarioid nematodes in both pets and humans.


Reprogramming of cellular metabolism is one of the hallmarks for cancer, in which tumor cells rewire their metabolic fluxes to generate sufficient energy and biosynthetic intermediates. Therefore, elucidating the correlation between cellular metabolism and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression may provide insights into novel approaches to cancer therapy. Methods: We assembled an integrated pathway-level metabolic profiling by mining metabolomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data of three HCC cell lines with increasing metastatic potentials. Immunohistochemical staining was performed in a tissue microarray from 185 HCC clinical specimens. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox regression analyses were applied to test the association between gene expression and survival outcome. In vitro assays were conducted to investigate the functional role of enolase-phosphatase 1 (ENOPH1) in HCC malignant behaviors. Reversed genetics analysis was performed to determine the function of ENOPH1 in HCC metastasis. An intrahepatic mouse model further confirmed the role of ENOPH1 in metastasis. Results: We have determined that HCC cell metastasis is associated with alterations in metabolite levels and expressions of metabolic enzymes in the cysteine/methionine metabolism pathway, and show that one of metabolic enzymes, enolase-phosphatase 1 (ENOPH1), is persistently upregulated with an increase in metastatic potential. The upregulation of ENOPH1 expression was observed as an independent prognostic factor for HCC patients. ENOPH1 overexpression promoted cell migration and invasion, whereas ENOPH1 downregulation inhibited cell migration and invasion. Furthermore, an enhanced phosphorylation of AKT with ENOPH1 upregulation was observed. ENOPH1-mediated malignant capacity in HCC cells can be rescued by an AKT inhibitor. Conclusion: Taken together, our findings illustrate that ENOPH1 promotes HCC progression and could serve as a novel biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.


The New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) formed in 1987 with the intention of reforming the policy that governed prostitution. The Prostitution Reform Act 2003 was created to protect sex workers from exploitation and to give them the same rights as other workers by protecting their occupation health and safety. It is an example of community empowerment in which a small and relatively powerless group of women strived to achieve social justice and equity for all sex workers. This article provides, for the first time, the story of how the NZPC was not only able to decriminalize prostitution but also to form a framework that safeguarded the rights of all sex workers in New Zealand. It is a fascinating case study that provides insightful information into how one civil society group had a direct influence on public policy. The implications of the case study to health promotion practice are discussed and will be of interest to planners and practitioners involved in the strengthening of community empowerment. (Global Health Promotion, 2010; 17(1): pp. 33—38)


Long-term changes in precipitation phase are investigated at ten stations in Czechia. Trends are calculated from 1983 to 2018 for the period between November and April. Daily SYNOP reports and daily precipitation totals are used at every station, where number and occurrence of specific codes in SYNOP report determine daily precipitation totals as solid, combined (which represents, to a large extent, category of mixed precipitation), or liquid. Thereafter, it is possible to calculate trends of all precipitation phases as well as the proportion of solid to total precipitation (S/P; in %). The average S/P trend over all Czech stations is significantly negative (−0.60%·year-1) and accompanied by a sharp decrease in solid precipitation (−1.66 mm·year-1) and an increase in combined precipitation (1.50 mm·year-1). Thus, our results show a ship of precipitation phase from solid to combined. Because of the dependence of S/P on air temperature, we suppose that the current S/P decline is a manifestation of rising air temperatures in the past decades.


Context: clinical outcomes of Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 inhibitors can be beneficial for the patients in controlling high blood sugar it can also cause potential adverse effects Aim: The main objective of this study was to assess the risks and benefits of Dipeptidyl peptidase-4inhibitors (DPP-4I) in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Method: systematical articles on Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors were reviewed from the year 2015 up to 2017 from 3 databases such as: EMBASE, COCHRANE and MEDSCAPE and some diabetes associations, the main such were: DPP-4 inhibitor, incretin, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Vildagliptin, Sitagliptin, Linagliptin, Saxagliptin, Alogliptin, 69 citations were included after screening for duplication and biased articles. Results: All DPP-4I are efficacious for improving blood glucose level among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients without causing hypoglycemic effects, and they can be used as monotherapy or in combination with other antidiabetic agents, Linagliptin offer uniqueness properties due to its non-renal excretion it improves microalbuminuria, whereas remaining DDP-4I cause a marginal changes on renal function, there is no hepatotoxicity among the DPP-4I no dose adjustment for Linagliptin, Sitagliptin, saxagliptin due non-hepatic excretion, only dose reduction is required for patients with minor hepatic functional impairment taking Vildagliptin and saxagliptin due to their partially elimination via liver,DPP-4I also protect patients for cardiovascular complications due its ability of reducing or maintaining the stability of body weight and lipid profile. They also show a low risk for increasing pancreatitis among T2DM and the others side effect were comparable less when compared to other anti-hyperglycemic agents. Conclusion: DPP-4I significantly control blood sugar level by decreasing glycated hemoglobin, fasting blood sugar, random blood sugar and they are not associated with hypoglycemic events they also minimize cardiovascular complications by reducing fats and weight in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, in addition DPP-4I helps in renal and liver protection. Over all, DPP-4I reduce morbidity and mortality rate among T2DM patients.


Guidelines regarding the interpretation and the scope of the new Parent-Subsidiary Directive general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) have been awaited ever since the implementation in 2015. Two recent decisions by the Danish Tax Board involving the application of the new Parent-Subsidiary Directive GAAR may contribute towards establishing such interpretation guidelines. The decisions appear to be neither of a principled nature nor sufficiently well justified by the Danish tax administration. No thorough assessment of the individual conditions of the GAAR seems to have been undertaken, as the Danish tax authorities in each decision appear to engage in GAAR considerations solely by arguing that a tax advantage is obtained which would not otherwise have been obtained, had the arrangement or series of arrangements not been put into place.


An experimental investigation at low airspeeds was made of the filling effect observed when a screen or similar resistance is placed across a diffuser. The filling effect is found to be real in that screens can prevent separation or restore separated flow in diffusers even of extreme divergence and to depend principally on screen location and pressure-drop coefficient of the screen. Results are given for three different diffusers of circular cross section with a variety of screen arrangements. Effects of single screens and multiple screens are shown. The mechanics of the filling effect is explained, and possible efficiencies are discussed. Results of arrangements of multiple screens in wide-angle diffusers are given to show a possible application to damping screens as used in wind tunnels to reduce turbulence. (author).


Background/Objectives: To gather the information on the natural disasters occurred Worldwide from the year 2004 to 2013 Average and 2014 and emphasizes on the disaster type which has severely affected the continent Asia, particularly, Malaysia. Methods: This paper collects all the information about major overflows in the history of Malaysia and gathers the facts about the official flood loss estimates for the selected major flood events from the year 1967 to 2012. It further provides information on the general causes and effects of floods and explains about the flood mitigation measures being used in this region. Additionally, it explains about the allocation of funds for flood mitigation measures by the Malaysian government under the Malaysia plan (1971 to 2020) and enlightens the responsibility of the government agencies accountable to the mitigation measures during the flooding conditions. Findings: Experiences from past floods, demonstrate that a common hazard which causes risk of death or serious injury to the people is due to the instability of vehicles in floodwaters. Therefore, the stability of vehicles during urban flood events has aroused recent interest from the Environmental Agency in the United Kingdom and other flood management authorities around the World. However, it is still believed that there is a need of an Integrated Smart Alarm System that can be used in the flood prone regions to minimize the vehicle related fatalities. Application: To provide researchers, government agencies and decision makers etc., an overview on the most notable disaster type which has severely affected the Malaysian region.


This display brings together two series of work by the photographer Karen Knorr: Belgravia 1979–81 and Gentlemen 1981–83, which form part of the Eric and Louise Franck London Collection. Knorr's work emerged out of debates in cultural studies that were current in the 1970s about the politics of representation.

The series, Gentlemen and Belgravia both combine image and text. Gentlemen brings together photographs taken in gentlemen's clubs in central London with text constructed out of speeches of parliament and the news; in doing Knorr explores patriarchal values in the upper middle classes. Belgravia highlights the aspirations and lifestyle of a privileged minority living in one of the most affluent parts of London.


Three-dimensional random tensor models are a natural generalization of the celebrated matrix models. The associated tensor graphs, or 3D maps, can be classified with respect to a particular integer or half-integer, the degree of the respective graph. In this paper we analyze the general term of the asymptotic expansion in N, the size of the tensor, of a particular random tensor model, the multi-orientable tensor model. We perform their enumeration and we establish which are the dominant configurations of a given degree.


Overview Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgery to implant a device that sends electrical signals to brain areas responsible for body movement. Electrodes are placed deep in the brain and are connected to a stimulator device. Similar to a heart pacemaker, a neurostimulator uses electric pulses to regulate brain activity. DBS can help reduce the symptoms of tremor, slowness, stiffness, and walking problems caused by Parkinson's, dystonia, or essential tremor. Successful DBS allows people to potentially reduce their medications and improve their quality of life.


Growth pattern and reproductive biology of whiting, Merlangius merlangus euxinus were studied in southeast Black Sea between April 2011 and March 2012. The seasonal von Bertalanffy growth equation parameters, computed from monthly length frequency distributions, were estimated as L∞ = 18.95 cm TL, K = 0.900 year -1 for males and as L∞ = 20.29 cm TL, K = 0.805 year for females. Seasonal oscillation of growth for males (C = 0.510) were stronger than females (C = 0.197), and the time of the slowest growth period corresponded to May (WP = 0.358) in males and January (WP = 0.040) in females. Fecundity ranged between 11659 and 354204 eggs (mean 70,919±11,659 eggs) and fecundity total length relationship was significantly different from zero (P<0.0001). The growth of gonad from stage 1 to stage 4 appeared throughout the year and recently spent gonad was also observed only in August, December and January for both sexes. Spawning continues throughout the year with intensive spawning occurred at last three times in a year; at the end of the summer, in mid-autumn and in early winter. The size at sexual maturity was estimated as 14.6 cm TL for females and 13.9 cm for males. The protection of whiting breeding and for a sustainable whiting fishery with bottom gill nets, the smallest capture size should be applied as 15 cm TL.


Iodine provision was studied in the population living in the south and north (coastal) areas of the Arkhangelsk Region. The south areas were ascertained to be iodine-deficient and the north ones were iodine-rich. Despite the fact that endemic goiter is present on both territories, it was concluded that endemic goiter in the coastal area is caused by imbalance of some biological elements in the environment.


We demonstrate a frequency and time domain analysis for optical random access memory (RAM) cells that rely on semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based switches but employ different switching mechanisms. The first RAM cell utilizes SOA cross gain modulation (XGM) switches both for the access gate as well as latching mechanism, whereas the second RAM cell configuration utilizes SOA-Mach-Zehnder interferometer cross phase modulation (XPM) switches. The frequency domain analysis exploits first-order perturbation theory approximations towards deriving the RAM cell frequency response, which is shown to exhibit in both RAM cell layouts a comb like resonant behavior. The free spectral range is dictated by the coupling length between the coupled switches that form the latching element, whereas the finesse depends on the temporal response of the switching mechanism employed. The qualitative speed and signal quality results obtained in the frequency domain are confirmed by a respective time-domain analysis carried out for both RAM cell layouts, using an experimentally validated time-domain SOA simulation model that relies on the transfer matrix method. Performance analysis in the time domain reveals in addition important quantitative RAM output signal measures like the extinction ratio and its dependence on the coupling length and the operational speed, as well as the input power dynamic range for successful RAM operation. Our holistic frequency- and time-domain analysis framework provides an in-depth understanding of performance-critical design parameters and their relationship to expected RAM cell performance characteristics. This is then utilized for a one-by-one system level comparison between the two RAM cell layouts in terms of readout extinction ratio, maximum speed, footprint, and power consumption concluding that the SOA-XGM-based RAM cell offers certain advantages when operational speeds not higher than 10 Gb/s are targeted, and the SOA-XPM-based RAM cell setup dominating when higher RAM serial speeds even up to 40 GHz are targeted.


In this paper, we propose and investigate a new local search strategy for multiobjective memetic algorithms. More precisely, we sug- gest a novel iterative search procedure, known as the Hill Climber with Sidestep (HCS), which is designed for the treatment of multiobjective op- timization problems, and show further two possible ways to integrate the HCS into a given evolutionary strategy leading to new memetic (or hybrid) algorithms. The pecularity of the HCS is that it is intended to be capable both moving toward and along the (local) Pareto set depending on the distance of the current iterate toward this set. The local search procedure utilizes the geometry of the directional cones of such optimization prob- lems and works with or without gradient information. Finally, we present some numerical results on some well-known benchmark problems, indi- cating the strength of the local search strategy as a standalone algorithm as well as its benefit when used within a MOEA. For the latter we use the state of the art algorithms Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II and Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2 as base MOEAs.


Antigen recognition and presentation to subsequently induce an appropriate host response is dependent on the action of antigen-presenting cells such as dendritic cells and macrophages. In this thesis, the function of cholesterol and coroninin antigen-presenting cells was studied. In the first part of this thesis, the delivery of exogenous antigens into the MHC class I pathway, termed cross-presentation, was investigated. Cross-presentation is important for the establishment of an immune response against viruses or tumour cells in vivo. Antigens to be cross-presented are frequently internalized via macropinocytosis. Here it is shown, that by cholesterol-depletion of antigen-presenting cells macropinosome formation was abolished resulting in an impaired crosspresentation of exogenous antigens. In accordance with a role of cholesterol in cross-presentation, modification of antigens by palmitoylation, a modification known to increase the affinity to cholesterol, resulted in a strongly enhanced uptake and improved cross-presentation of the antigen. Together, these results indicate that cholesterol plays an important role in macropinocytosis and in the subsequent delivery of antigens into the MHC class I pathway. To explore palmitoylation as a modification that would enhance cross-presentation of antigens, we found that such modification often results in the insolubility of the modified antigen. For specific antigens however the use of palmitoylation to improve cross-presentation of soluble proteins could be explored for the development of new vaccines. The second part of this thesis focused on coronin 1, a member of the WD repeat protein family of actin-binding proteins termed coronins. In contrast to the other mammalian coronins, coroninis expressed predominantly in leukocytes arguing for a role in leukocyte specific processes. To understand a function for coronin 1, the structure of coroninwas analyzed. Coroninconsists of three structural domains: a N-terminal region containingWD40 repeats, which is connected by a linker region with a C-terminal coiled coil domain. Coroninoccurs in vivo as homotrimeric complexes, which associate with the plasma membrane and with the cytoskeleton via two distinct binding domains. It was found, that association of coroninwith the cytoskeleton was mediated by coiled coil induced trimerization of a stretch of positively charged residues within the linker region. In contrast, plasma membrane binding was independent of the oligomerization state of coroninand required the presence of the N-terminal, WD repeat-containing domain. By bridging the F-actin cytoskeleton with the plasma membrane coronin1 may serve as a linker integrating outside signals with the remodelling of the F-actin cytoskeleton.


In both numerical and stochastic optimization methods, surrogate models are often employed in lieu of the expensive high-fidelity models to enhance search efficiency. In gradient-based numerical methods, the trustworthiness of the surrogate models in predicting the fitness improvement is often addressed using ad hoc move limits or a trust region framework (TRF). Inspired by the success of TRF in line search, here we present a Trusted Evolutionary Algorithm (TEA) which is a surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm that exhibits the concept of surrogate model trustworthiness in its search. Empirical study on benchmark functions reveals that TEA converges to near-optimum solutions more efficiently than the canonical evolutionary algorithm.


Time synchronization is critical in distributed network system. A variety of network protocols, middleware and business applications rely on proper time synchronization across the computational infrastructure and depend on the clock accuracy. The "Network Time Protocol" (NTP) is the current widely accepted standard for synchronizing clocks over the Internet. In order to reduce access frequency to the NTP time server, and efficiently decreases over-loaded phenomena of server. more exactly errors was conclude by adopting Allan variance to analysis the resource, types and statistical characteristics of error which come from clock, measurement and network, and then based on the NTP research and current synchronization algorithm, a new time synchronization algorithm is proposed which is on the basis of a method of combination of adjusted frequency and adjusted phase to attain synchronization between the client with the time server to satisfy more and more accuracy requirement in distributed system applications. Under the same accuracy requirement, the result of the text shows the algorithm is more effective compared with current algorithm, which use the method of phase adjusting time.


Sir, The World Health Organization has acknowledged that tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest infectious diseases worldwide.[1] The global estimates suggest that in the year 2013, almost 9 million people were diagnosed with TB and around 1.5 million succumbed to the disease and its associated complications.[1] As an effective approach [viz. Directly Observed Treatment and Short‑course chemotherapy (DOTS)] is available for the disease, it is really unacceptable to digest that so many people die every year because of a preventable disease.[1,2] ........


We introduce a stellar velocity survey of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, undertaken using the Michigan/MIKE Fiber System (MMFS) at the Magellan/Clay 6.5 m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. As of 2006 November we have used MMFS to collect 6415 high-resolution (R = 20,000-25,000) spectra from 5180 stars in four dwarf spheroidal galaxies: Carina, Fornax, Sculptor, and Sextans. Spectra sample the range 5140-5180 Å, which includes the prominent magnesium triplet absorption feature. We measure radial velocity (RV) to a median precision of 2.0 km s-1 for stars as faint as V ~ 20.5. From the spectra we also are able to measure the strength of iron and magnesium absorption features using spectral indices that correlate with effective temperature, surface gravity, and chemical abundance. Measurement of line strength allows us to identify interloping foreground stars independently of velocity and to examine the metallicity distribution among dSph members. Here we present detailed descriptions of MMFS, our target selection and spectroscopic observations, the data reduction procedure, and error analysis. We compare our RV results to previously published measurements for individual stars. In some cases we find evidence for a mild, velocity-dependent offset between the RVs that we measure using the magnesium triplet and previously published RV measurements derived from the infrared calcium triplet. In companion papers we will present the complete data sets and kinematic analyses of these new observations.


This article presented a mobile agent-based distributed vision fusion architecture that provides a flexible vision fusion solution to increase power efficiency by reducing excessive communication and enhance sensor fusion capabilities with migratory in situ on demand algorithms for vision data processing and analysis. The IEEE FIPA standard-compliant mobile agent system, Mobile-C, implemented as a C library, is used as the foundation for the mobile agent-based distributed vision fusion architecture. Mobile agents dynamically migrate from one sensor node to another to fully combine all necessary sensor data in a desired manner specific to the system requesting the data. Dispatching mobile agents to target vision systems on the network is done on demand, reducing network congestion and the required communication bandwidth. The use of mobile agents in a distributed vision system allows for the encapsulation of specific fusion techniques. The differences between monolithic and mobile agent-based approaches along with future considerations were discussed. The validity of the architecture was proven through two separate case studies. The first case study involves the localization of a part in a real experimental setup with a retrofitted robotic workcell composed of a Puma 560, IBM 7575, conveyor system, and vision system. The second case study vertically and horizontally integrates multiple systems as a tier-scalable planetary reconnaissance experimental system involving two vision systems: a Puma 560 manipulator and a K-Team Khepera III mobile robot. All source code including Mobile-C, the mobile agents, and the mobile agent code presented in the article are available at the project Web site.


This short paper considers all possible stakeholders in different stages of a sustainability transition and matches their behavioural features and diversity to policies. This will involve an assessment of potential or expected responses of stakeholders to a range of policy instruments. Following the Multi-Level Perspective framework to conceptualise sustainability transitions, we classify the various transition policies at niche, regime and landscape levels. Next, we offer a complementary classification of policies based on a distinction between social preferences and bounded rationality. The paper identifies many barriers to making a sustainability transition and how to respond to them. In addition, lessons are drawn from the case of Denmark. The detailed framework and associated literature for the analysis was discussed in Milestone 31 of the WWWforEurope project.


In the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0, the question is to what extent this development has been utilized in the field of public health? In fact, in this era there are a number of technological developments, especially information technology, among others, Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning that can be utilized in the field of public health. Public health surveillance that traditionally uses structured data, with the development of information technology today, the surveillance can use textual data. Using Machine Learning, the surveillance would be able to assess public opinion that are negative about a public health program, for example the immunization program. Machine Learning could also assist public health researchers to develop a model to predict the occurrence of certain ill health, which can then test the model with available data, regarding the accuracy of the model in predicting the event. The objectives of this paper are, firstly to provide some of the Faculty of Public Health University of Indonesia (FPHUI) achievements in utilizing the potentials of Machine Learning. Secondly, to identify the future Health Informatics research agenda, especially in the use of Machine Learning.


The increased application of germline genetic testing is expanding our understanding of the risk factors associated with childhood cancer development, and, in some cases, such testing is also informing clinical management. Nonetheless, the incorporation of genetic testing into the pediatric oncology setting is complex and associated with many ethical and practical challenges. The decision as to whether to pursue clinical genetic testing for hereditary cancer predisposition for children should always be guided by the best interest of the child. Despite this fundamental ethical principle, patients, parents, and health care providers may differ in their opinions. Clinical genetic testing to detect the presence of predisposition syndromes associated with childhood-onset cancers, particularly those for which surveillance and preventive measures have proven to enhance outcome, is currently well accepted. On the other hand, clinical genetic testing of children for syndromes associated with adult-onset cancers has raised many concerns about the potential for psychological harm and disrespect of patient autonomy. As a consequence, such testing is not encouraged. The challenges surrounding germline genetic testing are further complicated when testing is done in the research setting and/or when it involves whole-exome or whole-genome sequencing approaches, which can uncover genetic variants that may or may not be associated with the disease under study. Accordingly, there is great debate around these processes and the most appropriate approaches regarding the return of test results. Future research is needed to enhance knowledge about how best to incorporate genomic information into clinical practice.


Many industries benefit from using fire resistant hydraulic fluids including aviation, steel processing, aluminum die-casting, marine, mining, and many more. In recent years, environmental performance has become an increasingly important feature of hydraulic fluids notably in Europe with the introduction of the European Eco-Label and in the United States with the recommendations provided by the 2002 U.S. Farm Bill for procurement of bio-based materials by Federal agencies. Environmental performance favors esters and vegetable oils as the preferred technologies today but polyalkylene glycols (PAGs) offer an alternative option although they are not derived from renewable sources. The performance of several environmentally friendly fire resistant anhydrous hydraulic fluids based on these technologies has been evaluated in laboratory bench tests. All fluids exhibit excellent hydraulic vane pump wear performance. In high temperature oxidation studies, synthetic products based on esters and PAGs, out-perform vegetable oils. Hydrolytic stability results show hydrolysis of synthetic esters and vegetable oils occurs to form acids in contrast to a PAG formulation, which is more stable. Furthermore the unique water solubility and non-sheening aspects of the PAG product indicate it may be a more favorable choice for use in applications where fluid leakage into water-ways is a concern. By understanding the performance of each product technology, direction can be provided in the type of equipment and industries where these fluids can be used and a discussion pertaining to this is presented herein.


In this work we look at the spectral evolution of waves from the point of view of the total variation (TV) distance. There are several methods for determining changes in the variance of a random process, which correspond to changes in the total energy of the waves. We look instead at changes in the distribution of the energy as given by the energy spectra, after they have been normalized to correspond to a process with unit variance, using the total variation distance. This corresponds to looking at changes in the distribution of energy instead of changes of the total energy present. The TV distance has been successfully used for the comparison of random samples and probability distributions and measures the difference between two probability distributions determining how much one of them has to be modified to coincide with the other. We consider several sets of waves measured at fixed locations over periods of several hours or days and calculate the wave spectrum for periods of 30 minutes. After all the spectra have been normalized the TV distance between all spectra is calculated and used to determine change points in the sequence of normalized energy spectra. We show examples in which although there is considerable change in the significant wave height for the different time intervals, the energy distribution remains essentially unchanged. The method could be used to determine periods of stationarity for sea waves.


Abstract During Late Cretaceous–Mid-Eocene the Girne (Kyrenia) Range formed part of the northerly active continental margin of the southern Neotethys. Following Late Eocene–Late Miocene mainly deep-marine clastic deposition, the range was thrust southwards in a convergent (transpressional) stress regime during Late Miocene (Messinian)–earliest Pliocene time. Sinistral transpression is most evident near the front of the range in the east and in several segments, implying strain compartmentalization. The range was relatively quiescent during Early–Mid Pliocene, followed by strong c. east–west-trending uplift during Late Pliocene–Pleistocene. Further south, the east–west Dar Dere (Ovgos) lineament was active as a north-down extensional (or transtensional) fault zone during Oligocene–Mid-Miocene. Sinistral strike-slip/transpression followed during Late Miocene, followed by strike-slip at least during Late Pliocene–Pleistocene. The latest Miocene–earliest Pliocene thrusting/oblique convergence reflects closure of the southern Neotethys and tightening of the suture between the Arabian (North African) and Turkish (Eurasian) continents. Collision-related uplift of the Girne (Kyrenia) Range and the Troodos Massif further south took place from Late Pliocene time onwards. The Dar Dere (Ovgos) lineament is interpreted as a terrane boundary that was reactivated related to westward tectonic escape of Anatolia during Neogene–Recent time. The structure as a whole reflects regional diachronous continental collision. Supplementary material: Detailed geological maps of key areas to the south and north of the Girne (Kyrenia) Range based on regional mapping and field observations are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18534.


ABSTRACT We document that insider trading is significantly higher than normal levels prior to the public disclosure of SEC comment letters relating to revenue recognition. Furthermore, insider trading is triple its normal level for firms with high short positions. We find a small negative return at the comment letter release date and a negative drift in returns of 1 to 5 percent over the next 50 days following the release. We also find that greater pre-disclosure sales are associated with a stronger negative drift. This evidence suggests that insiders appear to benefit from trading prior to revenue recognition comment letters. We investigate whether the delayed price reaction to comment letter releases is due to investor inattention. Consistent with this explanation, we document that comment letters are downloaded infrequently from EDGAR in the days following their public disclosure. JEL Classifications: M41; M48; K42


The uterine eggs of Bufo japonicus are invested with four jelly layers, J1, J2, J3, and J4, from inner to outer, respectively. When eggs were inseminated with serially diluted sperm suspensions, a higher concentration of sperm was required for successful fertilization of dejellied uterine eggs in solubilized jelly preparation than fertilization of fully jellied uterine eggs. When the eggs taken from different portions of oviduct were inseminated, the eggs invested with J1J2J3 were fertilized as effectively as fully jellied uterine eggs. Those with J1J2 were fertilized at lower frequency but those with J1 and a thin J2 were hardly fertilizable. Eggs artificially invested with J3J4 were less fertilizable than the J1J2 eggs, but addition of J3J4 to J1 and a thin J2 made eggs as fertilizable as the J1J2 eggs. Observations on the sperm penetrating the jelly indicated that these differences in fertilizability were dependent on two variables: an increased number of sperm penetrating into J3 and J4, and an increased rate of acrosome reacted sperm in J1 and J2. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


As an indicator of human attention gaze is a subtle behavioral cue which can be exploited in many applications. However, inferring 3D gaze direction is challenging even for deep neural networks given the lack of large amount of data (groundtruthing gaze is expensive and existing datasets use different setups) and the inherent presence of gaze biases due to person-specific difference. In this work, we address the problem of person-specific gaze model adaptation from only a few reference training samples. The main and novel idea is to improve gaze adaptation by generating additional training samples through the synthesis of gaze-redirected eye images from existing reference samples. In doing so, our contributions are threefold:(i) we design our gaze redirection framework from synthetic data, allowing us to benefit from aligned training sample pairs to predict accurate inverse mapping fields; (ii) we proposed a self-supervised approach for domain adaptation; (iii) we exploit the gaze redirection to improve the performance of person-specific gaze estimation. Extensive experiments on two public datasets demonstrate the validity of our gaze retargeting and gaze estimation framework.


This article deals with a subject that has been sensitive in the Jewish community in Sweden since the time of the Holocaust, namely the widespread image of the Stockholm Jewish Community as being negative towards letting Jewish refugees find a safe haven in Sweden during the Nazi persecution and mass murder. This image has previously been explained by the alleged ineffectivity of the Stockholm Jewish Community to aid the refugees and Swedish Jewry's failure to integrate them into the community. The present article, however, shows that this image was also a result of political differences between Jewish organizations, groups, and individuals, internationally as well as in Sweden. It was also due to an exaggerated belief in, and misconception of, the influence of the Swedish Jews on the Swedish administration of refugee aid, and resulted in personal feuds in which this negative image was accentuated. Furthermore, the image of the reluctant Swedish Jews has been reproduced and used by Swedish officials to avoid taking responsibility for the country's previous restrictive policy towards Jewish refugees. These accusations have cross-fertilized with the allegations from the inter-Jewish debate, further cementing the negative image of the Stockholm Jewish Community's responses to the Holocaust and the preceding persecutions.


This research was conducted based on the researcher's desire to find out what factors in the pay later payment method can foster impulse buying, especially for consumers. The independent factor being studied is the Paylater Method (X) while the dependent factor is impulse buying (Y), and the selection of the discount factor is due to the easy payment using the Paylater method. Based on the results of the questionnaire which was processed using SPSS 23 with simple linear regression, it was found that the factors studied had an influence of 4,023. And the result is that X has a positive effect on Y, while based on the results of the R2 count, the value = 0.294 or in other words the discount variable only answers 29.4% of the problems that occur.


Privacy and Data security are heating topic in the modern technologically advanced economy. Technological Innovations have created new forms of electronic data which are more vulnerable to theft or loss when compared to tradi-tional data storage. Moreover, the recent advances in internet technologies have exacerbated the risk of security threats. The Internet brings a whole new set of challenges in terms of data protection. Considering the complexities of modern technological advancements and its impact on data security, this study examines the Irish laws and EU directives for privacy and data security, its effectiveness in managing large scale data breaches and limitations. This paper also simulates attack scenarios that can be done by anonymous users in a complex cyberspace environment and explains how a digital evidence related to the attack scenario can be tracked down.


A series of compounds, reported in the literature, which can be formulated as nitrosonium salts of fluoro-acids, have been re-prepared. Several metal chloride-nitrosyl chloride adducts, also reported in the literature, have been re-prepared, and both those groups of compounds have been shown to contain the nitrosonium ions No+, by infrared diagnostic methods. The isomorphism of the nitrosonium salts of the anions fluoroborate, chlorostannate and chloroplatinate with their potassium analogues has boon confirmed, and nitrosonium and potassium fluorosulphates have been shown to be isostructural. These observations have been enplaned structurally, with reference to the relative sizes of nitrosonium and halide ions. The free (i.e. unco-ordinated) nitrosonium ion was found to absorb in the region 2160 cm-1 - 2400 cm-1. This wide variation was partially e:tplicabie in terms of polarisation by the anion but it is apparent that other factors were important, In generals it was found that fluoro-acid salts gave the highest nitrosonium ion stretching frequencies, followed by oxy-acid salts and chloro-acid salts respectively. The behaviour of group IVB and VB Lewis acid halides was observed with nitrogen oxides and nitrosyl chloride. With dinitrogen tetroxide, all the compounds examined, except arsenic trichloride, gave a mixture of products which it was not possible to separate. Arsenic triohloride gave a nitrosonium nitrato-arsenate salt. In the other cases, there was evidence for the formation of nitrosonium and nitronium salt mixtures, in accord with earlier observations on the behaviour of dinitrogen tetroxide with Lewis acids, and strong acids such as perchloric acid. With nitrosyl chloride, the products were either nitrosonium chloro-acid salts or molecular adducts. Reactions involving nitric oxide were not investigated extensively but in reactions with high valency metal chlorides, the primary reaction step was always a reduction by the nitric oxide. The behaviour of transition metal chlorides and oxides of the titanium, vanadium and chromium groups was observed in nitrosyl chloride and dinitrogen tetroxide. These reactions could all be explained assuming auto-ionisation of the solvent. The reactions in nitrosyl chloride yielded mainly nitrosonium salts of chloro-acids, and several of the anions thus formed were bi- and tri- nuclear species. The previously reported compounds NO.VCl4 and NO.V2Cl7 were obtained and characterised as nitrosonium salts. With niobium and tantalum, the new compounds NO.NbCl6 and NO.TaCl6 were prepared, containing the previously unknown NbCl6- and TeCl6 anions. The new compounds (NO)3Cr2Cl9 and (NO)3Mo3Cl10 were obtained. A surprising feature of several of these ionic compounds was their high volatility. In the reaction between chromium (VI) trioxide and nitrosyl chloride, a new compound (NO)2 Cr3O8Cl was characterised, in which chromium has undergone a partial reduction. Vanadium pentoxide underwent a similar reaction, but in this case it was not reproducible. The reactions involving dinitrogen tetroxide generally gave rise to one product only, in contrast to the Lewis acid dinitrogen tetroxide reactions. The products were usually metal nitrate-dinitrogen tetroxide adducts and these could be formulated as nitrosonium metal nitrato-salts, on the basis of their infrared spectra. Vanadium and chromium chlorides gave the adducts VO2NO3.N2O4 and Cr(NO3)3.2N2O4 respectively, but molybdenum trichloride gave Mo(V)O(NO3)3 which may be polymeric. No reaction occurred between chromium (III) chloride and either nitrosyl chloride or dinitrogen tetroxide, but in the presence of chromous chloride, reaction proceeded readily in both instances. No reaction was observed between high valency metal oxides and dinitrogen tetroxide, but this may have been due to insufficiently vigorous conditions. The reflectance spectra of the majority of the above compounds were observed, and, in most cases it was possible to make satisfactory band assignments.


Canadian physicians' perceptions on their use of and experience with virtual care offer important insights into finding the right balance in virtual care. Using data from the 2021 National Survey of Canadian Physicians conducted by Canada Health Infoway and the Canadian Medical Association (Canada Health Infoway and CMA 2021), we explored the mix of virtual care use by physicians, satisfaction with and challenges of virtual care and other perspectives around its continued use. We discuss how these data inform and enrich some of the key recommendations put forward by Falk (2022) in this issue.


Fluorine-rich hydrothermal mineral assemblages developed at Henderson, Colorado, as 12 rhyolitic stocks of Oligocene age were emplaced, crystallized, and cooled inside a much larger and slightly older, rhyolitic intrusion, forming a Climax-type molybdenum deposit. The stocks are grouped into three intrusive centers, and the mineral assemblages, including ore minerals, are grouped according to their temperatures of formation as either high-, moderately high, moderate-, or low-temperature assemblages. The latter three groups are termed lower temperature assemblages, which are subdivided into two suites on the basis of position: above intrusive centers and on the flanks of the Seriate center. Integration of the mineralogy, sequence, and spatial positions of mineral assemblages defines the geochemical evolution of hydrothermal fluids, places qualitative constraints on mass transfer, and provides insight into the development of the geochemical halos that are used in exploration for porphyry orebodies.

A reconnaissance fluid inclusion study targeted the lower temperature assemblages, and a geologic assessment of results indicates that we were unable to identify fluid inclusions from several assemblages. After pooling meaningful results, the ranges of temperatures of formation for each group of lower temperature assemblages are moderately high, 600° to 460°C; moderate, 530° to 310°C; and low, 390° to 200°C, with significant differences in salinity between the two suites of assemblages. The suite formed above intrusive centers was deposited by more saline fluids (salinity commonly 28–65 wt % NaCl ± KCl equiv) than the suite formed on the flanks of the Seriate center (mostly <29 wt % NaCl + KCl equiv). The lower temperature assemblages described here do not overlap in space with higher level propylitic alteration, but fluid inclusions in one sample of propylitized rock indicate temperatures of 320° to 210°C and salinity <29 wt percent NaCl + KCl equiv.

Phase equilibria suggest that, at comparable temperatures, the suite of assemblages that formed above intrusive centers formed at higher f S2, f O2, and a K+/ a Na+ and slightly lower a K+/ a H+ than the suite of assemblages that formed on the flanks of the Seriate center. From inception of potassic alteration (~600°C) to termination of sericitic alteration (~300°C), values of log a K+/ a H+ of fluids remained essentially constant (~3), but the a F– ⋅ a H+ of fluids increased. Fluids were undersaturated with respect to topaz during high-temperature silicic and intense potassic alteration, but topaz precipitated in both suites of assemblages after further fluid evolution. Topaz formed in certain less intense potassic, transitional potassic-sodic, and sericitic assemblages as the a F- ⋅ a H+ of fluids increased with decline in temperature and probably pressure, before the fluid again became undersaturated with respect to topaz. Because fluids associated with sericite-pyrite alteration at Henderson were unusually saline (mostly 29–36 wt % NaCl equiv), cooling of evolved, magmatic fluids (rather than dilution by meteoric water) likely drove sericitic alteration by cooling through the K-feldspar-sericite buffer at nearly constant a K+/ a H+. Indeed, halite-bearing fluid inclusions persist into intermediate argillic assemblages that precipitated sphalerite and F-bearing, Mn-rich garnet.

Fluorine was continuously added to wall rocks by hydrothermal fluids along the entire evolutionary paths of both suites of assemblages. The alkalis underwent a complex history of mass transfer, with the behavior of potassium fluctuating between periods of strong leaching and strong addition to the rock. Iron was leached at high to moderately high temperatures and then fixed in the rock at lower temperatures, first mainly as magnetite and then as pyrite and minor pyrrhotite and specular hematite. Molybdenum and tungsten show no evidence of any period of significant leaching or recycling.

Each mineralizing intrusion introduced juvenile magmatic hydrothermal fluids containing metals and other components, but the deposition of metals and other components was staggered over time and a wide temperature range. The order of deposition was Mo to W to Pb-Zn to Mn. The spatial zoning of metals from proximal to distal around any intrusive center generally—but not always—corresponds to the temporal sequence early to late. Moreover, the metals that were deposited relatively late tended to be deposited at about the same time throughout the system, so that Pb-Zn and Mn introduced with the earliest intrusions were not deposited until much later, after other intrusions and hydrothermal fluids were introduced. Hence, there was progressively greater decoupling between the times of introduction and deposition of metals in the order Mo to W to Pb-Zn to Mn, and this time delay lengthened for any given component introduced by an earlier intrusion compared to the same component introduced by a later intrusion. The degree of decoupling of introduction and deposition of components may reconcile discrepancies between differing interpretations of when the majority of Cu is deposited in porphyry copper deposits.

Hydrothermal mineral assemblages that formed above intrusive centers at Henderson resemble assemblages in other Climax-type porphyry molybdenum deposits associated with high-silica rhyolites. In contrast, the suite of assemblages that formed on the flanks of the Seriate center is similar to alteration-mineralization products formed in porphyry molybdenum deposits related to alkali syenites and in porphyry tungsten-molybdenum deposits associated with rhyolites and granites. Hydrothermal assemblages in granite-related molybdenum deposits of the differentiated monzogranite suite and granite-related molybdenum-copper deposits have little in common with either suite of assemblages at Henderson.


Cytologic examination of peritoneal fluid in a patient with known myelofibrosis and previous splenectomy revealed mega‐karyocytes along with erythroid and myeloid precursors. These findings were consistent with extramedullary hematopoietic (EMH) implants of the peritoneum. A few similar cases have been occasionally reported in the literature. This case represents an additional example of a primary diagnosis of peritoneal EMH in which therapy was based on the cytologic findings and sequential cytologic observations were made. Diagn Cytopathol 1986;2:241 243.


Many organizations, including Space Dynamics Laboratory, have built blackbodies with calculated emissivities of 0.995 to 0.9999 and estimated radiance temperature uncertainties of a few hundred mK or less. However, the calculated performance has generally not been demonstrated through testing or comparison with other highperformance blackbodies. Intercomparison is valuable; historically, when equipment or experimental results have been intercompared they are often found to disagree by more than the claimed uncertainties. Blackbody testing has been limited because testing at the required accuracy (0.1% or better in radiance) is a significant expense. Such testing becomes essential when proven, SI-traceble, absolute accuracy is required, such as for the CLARREO mission which has an absolute accuracy requirement of 0.1 K (3 sigma) at 220 K over most of the thermal infrared and needs high-performance blackbodies to support this requirement. Properly testing blackbodies requires direct measurement of emissivity and accurate measurement of radiance or comparison of radiance from two blackbodies. This presentation will discuss these testing needs, various types of testing, and test results for a CLARREO prototype blackbody.


A detention reservoir is one of the most effective engineered solutions for flood damage mitigation in urban areas. Detention facilities are constructed to temporarily store storm water and then slowly drain when the peak period has passed. This delayed drainage may coincide with upstream floods and aggravate the flood risk downstream. Optimal operation and design are needed to improve the performance of detention reservoirs for flood reduction. This study couples hydrologic simulation software (EPA-SWMM) with an evolutional optimizer (extraordinary particle swarm optimization, EPSO) to minimize flood damage downstream while considering the inundation risk at the detention reservoir. The optimum design and operation are applied to an urban case study in Seoul, Korea, for historical severe flooding events and designed rainfall scenarios. The optimal facilities outperform the present facilities in terms of flood damage reduction both downstream and in the detention reservoir area. Specifically, the peak water level at the detention pond under optimal conditions is significantly smaller than that of the current conditions. The comparison of the total flooded volume in the whole watershed shows a dramatic reduction of 79% in a severe flooding event in 2010 and around 20% in 2011 and in 180 min designed rainfall scenarios.


The effect of a change in neurofilament (NF) and tubulin gene expression on the elongation of axonal sprouts by adult rat sensory neurons was examined. Distal sciatic nerve crush axotomy was used to initiate changes in cytoskeletal gene expression in lumbar dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. In situ hybridization of DRG neurons with 35S- labeled cDNA probes revealed a significant reduction in the level of mRNAs for the low-molecular weight-NF protein and a significant increase in the level of beta tubulin mRNAs by 2 weeks after axotomy. A novel modification of the axonal transport paradigm was used to examine the biochemical composition of the regenerating axons formed by primed and unprimed DRG neurons. Primed neurons (which had sustained a crush axotomy of the distal sciatic nerve 2 weeks earlier) and unprimed (normal) neurons were labeled by microinjection of 35S-methionine and then stimulated to regenerate axons by a crush located very close to the DRG. In this paradigm, axonal sprouts that formed after the proximal crush axotomy incorporated radiolabeled, slow axonally transported proteins as they elongated. Fluorographs of SDS-PAGE revealed that the regenerating axonal sprouts of primed DRG cells incorporated and conveyed significantly less labeled NF protein than did the regenerating axons of unprimed DRG neurons. Electron microscopy revealed that the regenerating axonal sprouts of primed DRG cells contained numerous microtubules but very few identifiable NFs compared with the regenerating sprouts of unprimed DRG neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


The future of the electric grid requires advanced control technologies to reliably integrate high level of renewable generation and residential and small commercial distributed energy resources (DERs). Flexible loads are known as a vital component of future power systems with the potential to boost the overall system efficiency. Recent work has expanded the role of flexible and controllable energy resources, such as energy storage and dispatchable demand, to regulate power imbalances and stabilize grid frequency. This leads to the DER aggregators to develop concepts such as the virtual energy storage system (VESS). VESSs aggregate the flexible loads and energy resources and dispatch them akin to a grid-scale battery to provide flexibility to the system operator. Since the level of flexibility from aggregated DERs is uncertain and time varying, the VESSs' dispatch can be challenging. To optimally dispatch uncertain, energy-constrained reserves, model predictive control offers a viable tool to develop an appropriate trade-off between closed-loop performance and robustness of the dispatch. To improve the system operation, flexible VESSs can be formulated probabilistically and can be realized with chance-constrained model predictive control. The large-scale deployment of flexible loads needs to carefully consider the existing regulation schemes in power systems, i.e., generator droop control. In this work first, we investigate the complex nature of system-wide frequency stability from time-delays in actuation of dispatchable loads. Then, we studied the robustness and performance trade-offs in receding horizon control with uncertain energy resources. The uncertainty studied herein is associated with estimating the capacity of and the estimated state of charge from an aggregation of DERs. The concept of uncertain flexible resources in markets leads to maximizing capacity bids or control authority which leads to dynamic capacity saturation (DCS) of flexible resources. We show there exists a sensitive trade-off between robustness of the optimized dispatch and closed-loop system performance and sacrificing some robustness in the dispatch of the uncertain energy capacity can significantly improve system performance. We proposed and formulated a risk-based chance constrained MPC (RB-CC-MPC) to co-optimize the operational risk of prematurely saturating the virtual energy storage system against deviating generators from their scheduled set-point. On a fast minutely timescale, the RB-CC-MPC coordinates energy-constrained virtual resources to minimize unscheduled participation of ramp-rate limited generators for balancing variability from renewable generation, while taking into account grid conditions. We show under the proposed method it is possible to improve the performance of the controller over conventional distributionally robust methods by more than 20%. Moreover, a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation of a cyber-physical system consisting of packetized energy management (PEM) enabled DERs, flexible VESSs and transmission grid is developed in this work. A predictive, energy-constrained dispatch of aggregated PEM-enabled DERs is formulated, implemented, and validated on the HIL cyber-physical platform. The experimental results demonstrate that the existing control schemes, such as AGC, dispatch VESSs without regard to their energy state, which leads to unexpected capacity saturation. By accounting for the energy states of VESSs, model-predictive control (MPC) can optimally dispatch conventional generators and VESSs to overcome disturbances while avoiding undesired capacity saturation. The results show the improvement in dynamics by using MPC over conventional AGC and droop for a system with energy-constrained resources.


Single crystals, polycrystals, and DS alloys can be modeled in the same framework by means of crystal plasticity. This paper wants to show the common features of the different approaches on the grain level, and the additional assumptions that are needed to derive polycrystal or DS models. Phenomenological rules are introduced for representing the hardening in the single crystal constitutive equations. Series of examples are given to illustrate the capabilities of the various approaches that are mainly related to the crystallographic character, and to the fact that the macroscopic yield locus is not predefined, but built from a collection of linear yield conditions.


Reading speed is one of the essential parameters to consider when designing subtitles for a hearing impaired audience. Images, subtitles and spoken dialogue are the three sources of information in a subtitled audiovisual text. These three sources of information, along with the reading capacity of the audience, make up the basic characteristics of the medium (De Linde and Kay 1999). Hence, it seems essential to comprehend and characterise the reading ability of the audience in order to create relevant subtitles. The present article seeks to investigate speed of D/deaf and hard of hearing subtitling (SDH)—also known as captioning—for children. It seeks to do so by describing, analysing and evaluating the SDH broadcast by the three channels exclusively dedicated to the youngest audience in Spain. The analysis is compared with the UNE Standard 153010 and put into context by drawing on existing studies in the field.


Over the past few years, international organisations have advanced Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) as a global policy to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and address gender-based violence in schools. This paper analyses policy adoption, transfer mechanisms, and reformulation of CSE in Ethiopia, a late adopter of the policy. To do this, we identify education policy transfer mechanisms and apply a gender analysis by focusing on conceptualisations of gender relations in the uptake and reformulation of CSE policies. Drawing on document analysis and stakeholder interviews, the paper reveals that CSE in Ethiopia is largely a donor-driven agenda, advanced through dissemination and networking strategies. CSE is particularly embraced by the Ministry of Health, international organisations and NGOs in Ethiopia, but at the same time, the Ministry of Education and other critics continue to resist adoption, emphasising cultural di ff erences. As a result, CSE in Ethiopia is (re) formulated and re fl ects narrow conceptualisations of how CSE can address gender-based violence, restricting its focus to health and development outcomes. a very sensitive society where orthodox Christianity and Muslim traditions are so strong. There are misunderstandings. All our [organisation ' s] documents state that CSE should be age-appropriate, culturally sound and content-relevant. But there is always a hesitation because of the area of sexual orientation. That area has been twisted, misunderstood and misinterpreted by so many actors as [CSE] has been taken as a culture to promote homosexuality. (International Organisation, Male, 6)


Summary Patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) may risk disruption of their circadian rhythm. In an intervention research project a cycled lighting system was set up in an ICU room to support patients' circadian rhythm. Part I aimed to compare experiences of the lighting environment in two rooms with different lighting environments by lighting experiences questionnaire. The results indicated differences in advantage for the patients in the intervention room ( n = 48), in perception of daytime brightness ( p = 0.004). In nighttime, greater lighting variation ( p = 0.005) was found in the ordinary room ( n = 52). Part II aimed to describe experiences of lighting in the room equipped with the cycled lighting environment. Patients ( n = 19) were interviewed and the results were presented in categories: ''A dynamic lighting environment'', ''Impact of lighting on patients' sleep'', ''The impact of lighting/lights on circadian rhythm'' and ''The lighting calms''. Most had experiences from sleep disorders and half had nightmares/sights and circadian rhythm disruption. Nearly all were pleased with the cycled lighting environment, which together with daylight supported their circadian rhythm. In night's actual lighting levels helped patients and staff to connect which engendered feelings of calm.